As I was scrolling through twitter to kill time while waiting to board a flight, I happened across an article detailing why “NFL Preseason Games Might Actually Be Worth Watching,” quite the puzzling title. After a week in which the annual Hall of Fame game was cancelled over concerns for player safety (oh, the irony) due to troubles with field paint, I could not imagine why anybody would spend time attempting to defend the sham that is the NFL Preseason. The first weakness in that argument lies in the title. The phrase ‘might actually’ is about as weak of a positive statement that can be made, but my disagreement with the piece did not stop there.

Let us first examine the reason that the preseason exists. Contrary to what sports talk personalities and expert football analysts might have you believe, the point of preseason games is not to evaluate talent and let position battles play out, that can be done in training camp. It is no secret that the NFL (which only recently dropped its non-profit status) will squeeze every dollar it can out of football fans, and preseason games are just additional avenues in which the league can line its already bursting-at-the-seams pockets. No emphasis is put on actually winning these meaningless games, so spectators are paying for a bogus product.

Another argument that I would like to refute is that the NFL Preseason gives fans the opportunity to watch players on the cusp of making the team play their hearts out for their jobs. Want to see young guys play their hearts out? Watch college football, where the student athletes do not play for a paycheck, they play for their teammates and respective institutions. Many of the players fighting for a job will end up either cut, on a practice squad, or on another team entirely. I do not buy the argument that the chance to see no-namers duke it out for a few possessions makes the preseason watchable.

The author of the piece that I am rebutting likens the preseason to the opening act of a concert that you are excited to see. He admits that, much of the time, you gain little from watching a band you may have never heard of perform for half an hour. Sometimes, however, they may just knock your socks off. There is a reason that Division-II men’s water polo is not televised, nobody would tune in. The same applies to the preseason, as I do not watch sports for the off chance possibility that I will be entertained.

Once the Super Bowl is complete, the long wait for high-level football begins. I have not waited seven months to watch throw away contests in which my favorite players only play for a quarter. Plus, after the Bears lose their first preseason game 22-0, I want to postpone my disappointment for as long as I possibly can.